Agricore was sleeping much heavier than the night before, that fact was apparent to Entro.
'He must've pushed himself pretty hard.'
Today, he wanted to accomplish a bit of exploring. They were extremely far south of Entropolis and moving faster than even he expected.
The region around them was already forest-like, sporting less expansive desert and more lush tree lines that stretched for miles
Personally, he had never been in the wilderness south of the city, making this a new experience for him.
Walking out of the cave, Entro inhaled a breath of air, enjoying the quality.
A bright light entered his vision, accompanied by the feeling of drowning, he couldn't breathe, because every breath only hastened his end.
Fear and despair erupted in his heart, death breathing down his neck.
It left just as quickly as it came, leaving him shaken and confused.
His head was spinning and heating up, becoming near feverish.
Moments before, he was wandering the forest, now he stumbled between trees, searching for a source of water.
The bottles he packed would not cut it, he needed a stream to soak in.
Hearing running water, he moved as fast as his legs could currently carry him, not bothering to check how deep the water went.
Fortunately, it was about knee level, allowing him to peel his clothes off and stagger in awkwardly and rest his head against the bank.
Chills spread throughout his body, combating the feverish heat that overcame him.
Above his face, the sky was shifting colors. He watched as colors he had never seen amongst the heavens slowly slip into reality, as if the northern lights had taken a vacation south.
It was beautiful.
Hearing a rustle of branches just outside of his vision, Entro forced himself into the leaning position for a better look.
Behind him was a myriad of wildlife, curiously watching him.
Staring.
Predator and prey alike stood shoulder to shoulder; mountain lions, deer, coyotes, and rabbits, unmoving as if waiting for his next move.
Not knowing whether to be scared or feel honored, Entro stared back.
He was sure there was supposed to be some danger alarm in his head, but his head was foggy, as if confused with what to do.
Something clawed at his fingertips.
Looking down, there was a little lizard interrogatively scratching his hand, the bravest of the bunch.
Not that he could name lizard species, but it was clear this one was different.
Its hide was purple with gold accents. Rounded black eyes investigated the strange creature before it.
"Amethyst."
Entro wanted to pet it.
Slowly lifting his hand to avoid startling it, he extended his finger towards the lizard's head.
The lizard remained unmoving, only watching Entro's movements warily.
Once he was within petting range without having frightened the lizard, he began to make his attempt.
However, his body had other plans.
Blood accumulated at his fingertips into a drop, directly in front of the lizard.
He went to move his hand back, but the lizard was quicker.
It licked his finger.
It licked the blood up.
Within mere moments, its pupils began dilating.
A beastly howl echoed through the forest, rattling Entro's skull.
As if startled out of its previous trance, the lizard darted into the brush, out of sight in seconds.
Every animal behind him also broke loose, darting into every direction that Entro was not. Hooves thundered, wings flapped, and trees shuddered in their wake, leaving him alone in a stream.
The air shifted as if something large was displacing it.
Agricore crashed through the tree line, head darting around in an obvious panic.
"Oh, hey Agri," Entro called out, his voice not quite his own. Words were drawled out and stumbled over.
And as if nothing could get weirder, a voice resounded in his head.
"Father, what's the matter?"
Entro did not respond.
He was already passing out.
---
Agricore was stirred in his sleep by his instincts; fur standing tall, on end, and his paws tingling told him something was happening.
Father was nowhere near the cave.
He let out a howl in frustration for not noticing anything sooner and bounded off toward Father.
There was no need to sniff him out, even from the cave, Agricore could feel immense pressure originating East of the cave, as if a superior entity was descending upon this realm
Only one presence was superior to his.
As he ran, a wave of local wildlife was running opposite of his direction, forcing him to push and shove past animals.
Hundreds of them, of all shapes and sizes, scurried West, fleeing.
Leaping from the tree line, Agricore hurriedly assessed the situation, finding Father stripped naked and lying in a stream, steam billowing from his body.
He tried asking Father directly about his condition, but the response he got was unintelligible and delirious.
Then Father fainted.
Agricore jumped into the stream and shoved Father out.
Cursing himself, he used his snout to ball Father up and curl around him, he still wasn't strong enough to carry him by maw alone.
They laid together for days, Entro showing no signs of waking and Agricore refusing to move from his side.
---
Far away, a small lizard scampered through the bush, stopping periodically to jerk its head sideways.
Constantly shifting eyes and twitching muscles was a strong giveaway that something was wrong.
The amethyst lizard didn't stop running, its body gave off every danger signal without a source to the fear.
Eventually, it could calm down and resume its normal day-to-day behaviors.
It settled into its old routine with a hint of pride and intelligence glinting in its eyes.